Method of manufacturing fulled or hardened felt articles such as felt boots or footwear



Dec. 28, 1948. G. H. BEETSON METHOD OF MANUFACTURING FULLED OR HARDENED FELT ARTICLES SUCH AS FELT BOOTS OR FOOTWEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 16, 1945 8am mlzlmmmmlwm -g ex D 1948- G. H. BEETSON METHOD OF MANUFACTURING FULLED OR HARDENED FELT ARTICLES SUCH AS FELT BOOTS OR'FOOTWEAR Flled Oct 16, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 28, 1948 METHOD 9F MANUFACTURING FUEIJEDOR HARDEN-ED FEET ARTIGLES SUGH AS FEET BOD'IS OR -FOQTWVEAR'A Geoffrey Harley. Beetson, .Hudoar. .Mills., .Biiry,

England; assignorto The Bury Ee'ltlManufacturing Company Limited," Bury; England" Applicationzflctohe'r 16, 1945;; Serial; N 0. 622,547 In GreatrBritain March i26e.194;5.=

This, invention relates to an; improved method of; manufacturing fulled or-hardenedfelt articles suchasafelt boots or footwear; and-is particularly but; not exclusively applicable to. unlaeed high felt boots .-reaching.tothe.knee.

Theinvention comprises. the method .of manufacture of fulled orhardened felt. articles. having at least onejoint including the, step wherein a-ielt blank. is produced a which is hardened... in a defined shaped area so as to leave an unhardened or unfelted margin,.which margin issubsequently hardened or felted in theproductionof thejoint.

Such method may include: the further step wherein thesaid margin isthinned and thejoint is I made. by overlapping and or by the H superim= position of additional feltable fibres.

The invention for themanufactureof a.felt boot comprises thesteps wherein apredetermined blank form is partially hardenedinafibrous.batt

and having a defined hardened areav with .un-.

hardened margin whichblank or formisthen folded together into boot shape, the .heel,.sole, front of leg, top of footand toe. being...joined by utilising the fieecy or unhardened margins with or without wads capable of interminglingsat the point of junctureand submitting. these totem ing actions,.the felt boot being further. felted and. further. treated as may be required'in manner set forth.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one example of the invention as applied to the manufacture of a feltedboot; in'which Fig. 1 shows the shape of a hardener plate orpattern' for 'making a single impression" of" aidefinitet shape in a soft battin the felting or hardening of the same.

Fig. 2'shoWs a suitable lay-out for a plurality of.hardener platesor patterns;

Fig. 3 showsa' finished blank producedibythe plate or pattern of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows means for finishing the heel},

Fig, 5 showsthe formation'ofthe joint'in'the sole.

Fig. 6 shows an alternative lay-out for a plurality of hardener plates or patterns.

Fig. '7 shows an alternative blank similar to Fig. 3, and produced by a pattern or hardener plate of the lay-out shown in Fig. 6.

The process consists in taking a soft batt of fibers composed partly or mainly of wool or animal hairs or other fibrous material, which may felt or commingle under the influence of heat, steam and jigging, and forming in said soft batt in a felting or hardening machine a felt blank of a definite shape provided with an unhardened or unfelted margin and composed of a leg portion. andlhalf foot .portions. extending from oppojsitesidesof tlieJeg portion at one endthereof: Theleg portion is-folded intocylindrical form withit'sunhardened or unfelted longitudinal marginsoverlapping, each other at the front',.t-hereby bringingthefoot portions into parallel dispositionat one. end'of' the cylindrical leg portion; with the complementary unhardened'or; unfelted; margins of. said foot portions also overlapping.-

The. hardening or felting of the soft batt'to produce said felt blank is effected by placing'the soft felt' batt; upon a. bottom flat plate: of the re1cn;; ,,or hardening machine in which the upper plate is providediwith one or more patterns I'll of the. form illustrated-in Fig. 1 of the drawings. When more. than onepattern is employed; the preferred arrangement is the lay-out illustrated in'.Fig 2'i.of'the drawings and thearrangement is'suc'h that a margin ofunfelted orunhardened fibersis' left on' three sides of each hardened area. Each pattern produces in the soft felt b'attja hardenediarea of; definite shape which has on threeofi'its sides. the said unfelted mar-'- gin. Each pattern forms a raised'portion on the under side; of the-upper plate and. forms'an impression vin the soft batt during the harden ing or "felting of the definite shaped areas. The pattern, or, patterns, may be covered by canms or. other coveringmaterial, or not covered, and may be of wood; metal; or any rigid material in which" the surface contacting the fleece may be rough orsmooth. When hardeningis carried out inia knowrr'manner; usingsteam, pressure and jigging onby other known-means, only that part of .tlieifleeceunder,thepatterned shapes is hardened; while' the remainder remains a substantially unfelted, although the marginal area around the hardened;shapes-patterned onthe "batt will have beensubjectedtotemperature andhumidity; and even to" some pressure, so-that the fibers-will be sufii'ciently' interlaced or matted together to per-- mit subsequent handling.

Following the hardening or preliminary felting treatment, the hardened batt is cut into boot shapes by cutting around and outside the hardened parts of the batt, leaving a margin of unhardened material on at least three sides of the shape as illustrated at b in Fig. 3. This margin of unhardened fibres may be thinned until one half remains; this thinning may be facilitated and assisted by forming the original batt from two separate batts of carded fibres.

At this stage the heel of the boot or footwear is formed by folding together the hardened batt I I over a rose I2 supplied with steam, the trimmed ened fibres mingle and felt together and the joint. corresponds with the remainder of the mate- I Next the sole is formed by continuing the heel junction and placing the margins forming the sole joint, in overlapping relation with any additional fleece or sliver which may be needed, on a steam heated plate l and subjecting it'to the jigging or oscillating action of a strip hardener I6 as illustrated by Fig. 5, or by similar means.

The front edges 1) of the boot or footwear are now brought together, while a non-feltable filler is placed inside the leg portion to prevent undesired adhesion, and the leg section is subjected, with the addition to the seam of any fleece or sliver which may be needed, to the action of a small plate hardener (not shown) by known means so that the leg portion of the boot is formed in hardened fleece. A tendency to gape at the front of the angle may be prevented by the inclusion of an extra flap of unhardened fleece when cutting out the shape, as shown by part a in Fig. 3.

Formation of the upper side of the foot is brought about in a similar manner to that employed for the foot, a non-feltable filler being inserted and the foot submitted, with the addition to the seam of any sliver which may be needed, to the action of a small plate hardener.

Completion of the boot or footwear is achieved by slipping the leg and foot over therose employed to form the heel, together with small strips of fleece or web as may be desired and hardening or felting the same by the action of a co-operate ing, jigging or vibrating tip hardener as illustrated by Fig. 4, or by similar means, whereby the jointed toe portion felts together to correspond with the remainder of the material.

Figs. 6 and 7 show a slightly modified lay-out for a multiple impression and a slightly different shape of blank compared with Figs. 2 and 3.

Further hardening action may be imposed upon all or any parts of the boot shape at this stage, which may be followed by felting or'milling action by known means to produce the desired hardness or finish.

If desired, the boot shape may be dyed, proofed or stifl'ened by known means at, any stage after the jointing has been carried out, or the boot or footwear may be made from dyed and/or treated fibres.

Moreover the boot shape may be treated with plastic material and submitted to felting action or shrinkage in order to produce an imitation leather appearance as described in the specificaw 4 tion of the U. S. application for patent, Serial No. 570,224.

Subsequently, the boot so far processed can be stretched on a built-up last of approximately the desired shape, steamed and then dried. It can be placed upon a contoured or modelled collapsible or rigid former which may be hollow and submitted to further steaming if need be from the interior and exterior. Moreover the boot shape may be moulded, fashioned or beaten by the action of hammers.

It will be understood that the boot may have a rubber or other sole if desired and could be coated on its exterior surface with rubber, synthetic rubber or any suitable composition of a plastic nature,

Modifications of the described method of manufacture may be made, for instance the sequence of forming the joints may be altered and the hardening together of the fleece joint may be assisted by sewing them together with woollen or other yarns. Furthermore the boot shape felt blank produced, by the pattern illustrated in Fig. 1 may be formed from two or more sections of hardened fleece which have been previously joined together in a manner similar to that described in this application. Reinforcement may be given to any part of the boot or footwear by incorporating additional fleece/or sliver by means of hardening action at any convenient stage. w

I declare thatwhat I claim is:

The method of manufacturing felt boots which consists in providing a batt of fibrous material having a partially hardened shaped area forming a leg portion and half foot portions extending from opposite sides of the leg portion at one end thereof with an unhardened margin around said portions, folding said leg portion into cylindrical form with its unhardened longitudinal margins overlapping each other at the front and thereby bringing the foot portions into parallel disposition at one end of said cylindrical leg portion with the complementary unhardened margins-of said foot portions also overlapping, and subjecting the overlapping edgesvof the leg and foot portions to the action of a. felting machine, thereby to cause' said overlapped margins to be felted together.

GEOFFREY HARLEY BEETSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are ofrecord in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Namev Date 278,305 Moulton May 22, 1883 285,089 Waite Sept. 18, 1883 306,747 Hawley Oct. 21, 1884 341,659 Hyson May 11, 1886 379,220 Hawley Mar. 13, 1888 

